The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Weather wipes out six baseball games
April showers — and snow, sleet and wind — are wreaking havoc on major league baseball.
No Ohtani in Kansas City. No Judge in Detroit. One less off day for a couple more teams this summer.
Six more games were wiped out Sunday, running baseball’s total number of postponements to 21 just 2 ½ weeks into the season. It’s baseball’s highest number through the end of April since it had 26 in 2007, and there are still a couple weeks to go this month.
The last time six games were wiped out in a single day was Sept. 12, 2008, and that situation was partly caused by Hurricane Ike battering the Gulf Coast. There was more dicey weather in the forecast for Monday, and Boston postponed its annual Patriots’ Day game for the first time since 1984.
“If it was up to me, no one would play north of Atlanta or east of Colorado in the first few weeks, but that’s not going to happen,” Braves reliever Peter Moylan said.
Angels sensation Shohei Ohtani was slated to pitch for the third time before their game against the Royals was called off because of subfreezing temperatures. Aaron Judge and the Yankees were set to play a doubleheader against the Tigers after a rainout on Saturday, but the twinbill was pulled, too, with icicles all over Comerica Park. The last three games of Minnesota’s series at Target Field against the Chicago White Sox were lost to rain, then a blizzard.
Also postponed were Blue Jays at Indians, and Braves at Cubs one day after the teams played through miserable conditions at Wrigley Field.
“Driving out again, it was remarkably bad,” Cubs manager Joe Maddon said. “It’s just the right thing to do. It’s not about just getting games in. You want to be able to play the game on a major league-caliber, championship-caliber level.”
Golf
KODAIRA WINS RBC HERITAGE » Satoshi Kodaira closed with a 5-under 66 to rally from six shots behind, and then made a 25-foot birdie putt on the third playoff hole to defeat Si Woo Kim and win the RBC Heritage on Sunday.
Kodaira won for the first time in just his fifth start in regular PGA Tour events.
The 28-year-old from Japan finished at 12-under 272 about an hour before Kim finished his round of 71. They matched pars on the 18th hole twice in the suddendeath playoff before Kodaira made his birdie putt on the par-3 17th. RAHM A WINNER AT SPANISH OPEN » Jon Rahm closed with a 5-under 67 to win the Spanish Open for his first victory on home soil.
Rahm won for the third time on the European Tour, and fifth time overall.